4 Healthcare Stock Stories for Wednesday Investment Wellness

The company has announced that top-line data from the Phase II dose-ranging clinical trial of its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine candidate in women of childbearing age, attained the trial’s protocol-specified objectives and supports progression to the next phase of advanced clinical testing. The trial marks an important step towards establishing the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate for utilization in a maternal immunization strategy. In a strategy such as this, the antibodies in vaccinated women should be naturally transferred to their infants in utero and thereby may confer passive protection at the earliest stage of life when these infants are extremely vulnerable to severe respiratory disease because of RSV.

A minimum of three of the world’s biggest drugmakers are bidding for Brazil’s Ache Laboratorios Farmaceuticos, in an auction that could value the group in excess of $5 billion, said some knowledgeable sources. Pfizer, Novartis, and Abbott Laboratories are all mulling second-round offers to buy the company, which enjoys a strong position in the country’s rapidly-growing pharmaceuticals market. The sources also said that the bids are due in the second half of April.

The firm said that it has reached a worldwide distribution and supply arrangement with the privately-held Peregrine Surgical, based in New Britain, Pennslvania. Through the terms, IRIDEX will become a global distributor for Peregrine labeled products, and Peregrine Surgical will become part of the IRIDEX supply chain for the manufacture of certain IRIDEX products.

On Wednesday, Antares said that the first shipment of commercial-ready Vibex auto-injector devices will be ready for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA) at the end of the first quarter. This initial order for pre-launch quantities of the generic epinephrine auto-injector marks the first of many shipments that should take place during the year.